It’s that time of year again at the corner of Tech and Frew. The permits are in and this Sunday the 18th is the first potential day of rolls. The chairmen have been meeting for weeks, the drivers have had their meetings, and at least a few teams have their capes taken care of. Currently these are the teams in the mix:
Ready to roll: CIA, Fringe, SDC, SigEp
Capes scheduled: AEPi, KapSig, Spirit
Status unknown: DTD/TriDelt, PiKA, Pioneers, SAE, SigNu
Those ranks are looking a little thin if the status-unknown crowd doesn’t show up soon. Last year started with 8 orgs, so 7 isn’t that big of a drop but it’s the wrong direction for sure. The schedule of fall freerolls is extensive though, so there’s time for the stragglers to get out.
Here at BAA headquarters, we’re preparing for another year of covering the buggy news you crave and generally putting the rest of the internet to shame. Our #1 goal while we do that this fall is to get more people involved. Personally, I’m about to (finally) finish grad school and it’s possible this is my last year in Pittsburgh. Even this year, I will be missing a lot of weekends while I look for jobs. The point being, I won’t be able to do rolls reports for much longer. It is time to groom new buggy correspondents.
The job is fun and there’s no reason it needs to be done by one person. I’m willing to pass on whatever I know, but anyone who’s willing should feel free to put their own mark on it. For starters, here are the scheduled days this fall:
09-18 Rolling 7:03 09-24 Rolling 7:09 [Coverage Needed] 09-25 No Rolls 10-01 Rolling 7:16 10-02 Rolling 7:17 10-08 Rolling 7:23 [Coverage Needed] 10-09 Rolling 7:24 [Coverage Needed] 10-15 Rolling 7:30 10-16 Rolling 7:31 10-22 Rolling 7:38 (midsemester break) 10-23 Rolling 7:39 (midsemester break) 10-29 Rolling 7:45 10-30 Rolling 7:47 (Halloween) 11-05 Rolling 7:54 [Coverage Needed] 11-06 Rolling 6:55 [Coverage Needed] 11-12 Rolling 7:02 11-13 Rolling 7:03 11-19 Rolling 7:10 11-20 Rolling 7:11
So, who out there wants to volunteer to cover one or more of the days/weekends? Respond in the comments and I’ll get in contact.
Jake Reid says:
My understanding of the situations for the “status unknown” teams so far:
DTD/TriDelt–hung up in some sort of snag involving one or both of their national organizations, won’t be out for a few weeks but very optimistic about rolling in the fall
PiKA–not rolling this semester, planning to roll next semester
Pioneers–Chaos is fatally wounded, team is out until new buggy is produced
SAE and SigNu–not exactly sure what they’re planning but they’ve been at Sweepstakes meetings so I think we can expect them to be out soon.
Sam Swift says:
Oh man, I just realized that PiKA’s tent location will be vacant and that’s pretty prime real estate. Anyone have bets on whether someone will take it (and if so, who)?
PIke Alum says:
The PIKE sweepstakes program will be back on track in the spring. Sure, some things will likely have changed w.r.t. the ‘house’, but their traditions will be retained and supported by strong alumni encouragement. I would ask the Sweepstakes faithful to honor PIKA’s contribution to buggy and refrain from making any real estate grabs. Best of luck with the weather this fall, and may the road commission gods bless us with new asphalt in the turn!
Jerry Carlson says:
Hey PiKA, sorry if I came across as being an ass; I somehow *actually* missed reading your post. No kidding. I feel really bad about how enthusiastic I was, because we mean you guys no wrong.
CIA isn’t intending to steal PiKA’s place – we’re just looking to make things more convenient for ourselves while there’s an open spot 150 yards closer than where we are. If and when PiKA Buggy returns to the course, we’ll gladly give you guys the spot back.
May the pothole fairies watch over us all.
RMike says:
Why are there no rolls on 09/25?
Sam Swift says:
I’m not sure. 9/25 wasn’t in the list of dates I got from Sweepstakes. Usually that means they couldn’t get a permit to close the road that day because something else is going on in the park or at Phipps.
Jerry Carlson says:
You can expect CIA to be in the vacant spot at the top of the hill! We’ve been talking with Sweepstakes about this. It’s certainly a nice change for us, since for the last few years we’ve had the furthest staging location by far (Baker Hall lobby) and I have all too many fond memories of us running four or five buggies to the line down Hill 5 while the chair is shouting “We’re up!”
DeVos says:
Wait, I was told that last minute loading and racing up hill 5 was what we were supposed to do. It gave mechanics a chance to practice their pushing (D team is important too!) and gave the chair something to do and worry about (since s/he was usually pretty bored at rolls).
Joking aside, good luck tomorrow everyone.
Desiderio says:
Mechanics hill 5 builds character, especially amongst the asthmatics. Without it we would have never had the bump and dance.
BuggyBob says:
I’m an SAE. The comments up thread about SAE are basically correct. SAE was quite small for a number of years and is working hard to get more members. It looks like this will occur this year. This is good as it will give more manpower and income for buggy and other efforts.Last year, the push team looked like the week link. SAE’s buggies are old, and need to upgraded. The wire wheels with pneumatic tires are hard to come by. There’s been lots of talk about to do an upgrade, including a whole new buggy, and major modifications to the current one(s). In keeping in touch with the active brothers on campus, it looks like they are concentrating on some other issues (especially rush) but do intend to stay involved.I hope they do. The buggy races seem to be shrinking in terms of the number of participants (especially fraternities) and having more entries makes for a better race, IMO.